Zynga Poker Chip Thief Faces Prison Time

Virtual poker chips might not sound all that important, but when you steal millions of dollars in chips and attempt to sell them, you're going to get in serious trouble.

That's the lesson being learned by Ashley Mitchell, a 29-year-old man from England. A local news website reports that he was accused of selling virtual poker chips stolen from Zynga. Five charges face Evans, four of which (converting criminal property between June 30, 2009 and September 7, 2009) he has pled guilty to. 400 billion chips worth about $12 million in total were stolen.

Prosecutor Gareth Evans said, "The defendant sold around one third of the 400 billion poker chips and looking at the auction history where one can purchase such items he was selling them for around 430 GBP [$696 USD] per billion. By my reckoning the total value if sold on the black market of the 400 billion was in the region of 184,000 GBP [$297,840]."

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